Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. In the USA, no sport is seeing widespread adoption in every part of the country like Pickleball. Many people look at pickleball for the first time and liken it to tennis. So are Pickleball rules the same as Tennis?
For those that are wondering, Pickleball rules are not the same as tennis rules. Some rules in Pickleball are similar, but both games have their unique set of rules.
Are Pickleball rules the same as Tennis?
Pickleball rules are mostly the same as tennis rules apart from key differences in the restrictions surrounding serving, the scoring systems involved, and the boundary of play. Serving is more restrictive in pickleball than in tennis, scoring is more complicated in tennis than in pickleball, and pickleball has a smaller court and more restrictive boundaries. Let’s dive a little bit deeper into the specifics.
Serving
First, let’s touch on how serving is different. In Tennis, players serving can serve however they want so long as the ball is hit once and it is served to the diagonally opposite service box. For Tennis serves, you are allowed one fault per serve attempt. Additionally, if a player hits the net and the tennis ball lands in the service box, that is a let (different than a fault) and the player serving can retry their serve attempt without penalty.
In Pickleball, one must serve a pickleball using an upward swing motion. Pickleball also has some peculiar rules for where the paddle is allowed to be during a serve. In Pickleball, when serving the paddle head must be below your wrist, and the paddle itself must be below the waistline of the server.
Another serving rule that is unique to Pickleball is that after the ball is served, the ball must bounce before being returned for 2 rounds of volleying before either team can return a volley without bouncing. So for example if team A serves to team B, the ball must bounce then be returned, and then the serving team must let it bounce once before they return. After those two bounces, anything goes.
Scoring
When it comes to scoring, Tennis is notoriously more complicated than Pickleball. Pickleball has quite a simple scoring system. Only the serving team can win a point, and games are played best to 11 points, win by 2.
Tennis is played on a scoring system of games, sets and matches. Games are played to 4, win by 2. However, if you ever watch a tennis match, they have a unique style of saying a tennis score. A score of 0 = love, 1 = 15, 2 = 30 and 3 = 40 (confused yet ?!?). So if a server is up 2 to 0 then you would say “30-love”. If the non-server is winning 2-1 then you would say “15-30”.
If a score is tied at 40, then in tennis you say “deuce”, and either player has to win 2 in a row to win the game. If it is at deuce and the server wins a point, then the score is called “ad-in”. If it is at deuce and the non-server wins a point, then the score is called “ad-out”. Either the server, or the non-server can win a game. Games are played in Sets, and sets are best to 6 games won. Matches in tennis are played best of 3 or 5 sets usually.
Boundary of Play
Lastly, boundary of play differs between Tennis and Pickleball. A pickleball court is much smaller than a tennis court measuring 44′ long by 20′ wide. Pickleball also has the same boundary of play for both and doubles pickleball. Unlike Tennis, Pickleball has an rectangular area closest to the net called the “kitchen” that has restrictions surrounding when a player is able to step foot into it.
A tennis courts are larger than a pickleball court. The boundaries for a tennis game differ based on whether you are playing doubles or singles. Singles and doubles tennis courts are both 79′ long. A singles court has an area of play of 26 feet whereas doubles is 36 feet wide giving players more space to place the tennis ball during play. Unlike Pickleball, tennis players can step foot wherever and whenever on their side of the court when playing the ball.
What rules in Pickleball are the same as Tennis?
Although the previous section of this article might make it seem like Pickleball and Tennis have highly differing rules, the games are actually more similar than they are different. Here are some rules they share in common:
- When serving, the server must serve the ball to the diagonally opposite block.
- Once a player returns a serve or volley, they (or their teammate) cannot hit the ball a second time in the same volley (unlike sports like volleyball)
- Both feet must be behind the baseline when serving.
- When returning a volley, if the ball bounces once within the legal boundaries then bounces again, a point is awarded to the opponent. In other words, the ball can’t bounce twice on one side.
- Both tennis and pickleball nets are 3 feet tall at the sides.
Conclusion
Pickleball and tennis have rules that are more similar than not. The differences between the rules of pickleball and tennis mostly lie in the rules surrounding serving, boundary of play and scoring. Pickleball has some more restrictions surrounding the way you can serve where as tennis’ scoring system is more complicated. All in all, both games’ rules are not that complicated. With an hour or two of play, you’ll be able to pick up the rules easily.